May brings you our second cover-themed playlist. We weren’t just looking for good versions of good songs… for us, a good cover song has to take you somewhere new. It should take an existing song, break it down and then reassemble it as something different. During the podcast, we’ll talk about what we think makes for a good cover.
Show notes from our May 2023 Spotify Podcast:
We started with Phoebe’s ten submissions and Al’s ten submissions, but our finished, 11-song playlist is put in an order that we think makes sense musically. Which is not same same order that we pick the songs during the picking ceremony heard during our podcast.
Notes (Quotes are from song lyrics):
- “But he can’t be a man ’cause he doesn’t smoke the same cigarettes as me”
Talk about taking a song you’ve heard hundreds of times and making it almost unrecognizable… they are not men, they are DEVO! - “So please don’t give a thought to me, I’m really doin’ fine, you can always find me here, I’m havin’ quite a time”
We have a great love for the Staunton, Virginia band The Findells. The video below is definitely not them, but some other band from the same town. Apologies for any confusion. - “Hey baby, what’s in your eyes? Is that the diamonds from the mine?”
Cat Power brings her sultry voice to Keith Richards’ “You Got The Silver”. - “Everything is free now, that’s what they say, everything I ever done, gonna give it away”
Sylvan Esso’s Amelia Meath is no stranger to our playlist. Here she and Nick Sanborn team up with Flock of Dimes (Jenn Wasner) to cover the Gillian Welch classic “Everything Is Free”. - “All these poses, such beautiful poses, makes any boy feel like picking up roses”
This is the second time Madison Cunningham has appeared in our playlist. Here she covers Rufus Wainwright. - “Everything passes, everything changes, just do what you think you should do, and who knows, baby? Someday maybe, I’ll come and be crying to you”
Courtney Marie Andrews has such an angelic voice. Here she uses it on the dark “To Ramona”. - “I said I missed her skin when she started laughing while I clenched down on her wrist, she said, ‘That’s quite a list, but there’s one thing you missed'”
The songwriter Mark Kozelek is no stranger to our playlist. The wonderful Phoebe Bridgers covers one of his early songs here. - “Is a dream a lie if it don’t come true, or is it something worse?”
Angie McMahon (aka Big Al’s crush) is back for her record sixth appearance in our playlist. Maybe you’ll understand why watching her dark and subtle Springsteen cover. - “My father died on the porch outside on an August afternoon, I sipped bourbon and cried with a friend by the light of the moon”
Not far behind, this is Jeffrey Foucault’s fifth visit to our playlist (and his second John Prine cover). - “I’ll always love you and make you happy, if you will only say the same, but if you leave me to love another, you’ll regret it all someday”
Nashville power couple Morgane and Chris Stapleton rock an old standard. - “I don’t care if it hurts, I wanna have control, I want a perfect body, I want a perfect soul”
Danielle Ponder’s soulful cover of Radiohead’s “Creep” is just breathtaking.
If you’re curious, here are the the original versions (or as best as we could do with “You Are My Sunshine”) of the songs from our playlist
Both our Spotify playlist and our podcast are updated and released around the first of each month. This month we were recorded at campsite 54 in Pocahontas State Park south of Richmond, Virginia. Our apologies for background noises from small woodland creatures, other campers, and low-flying aircraft.
Thanks to Four Roses Small Batch Bourbon for help in recording this month. Thanks to our slowly deflating air mattress. Thanks to our kind campground neighbor in space 55 for jump starting Vivian when Al left her key turned on too long and killed her battery. Our theme music is from “Red Eye” by E’s Jammy Jams, accordion music by Andrew Huang.
Featured image: Somehow, this is how Phoebe sleeps. Oxygen is apparently not required.
If you have questions or suggestions, feel free to let us know!
See you next month!
